The Small Hours
by Hawtsee
Summary: Sometimes good things happen in the small hours. Snapshots of Gale and Madge's relationship. (AU)
1. One

Ted Mosby is wrong, sometimes good things can happen after 2am.

 **2.01am**

It's been a hectic week at work and all Gale really wants to do this Friday night is have a few beers with his buddies, play a few games of pool and go to bed at a reasonable hour. He does not want to go to some lame party with a bunch of people he doesn't know, but somehow he finds himself agreeing to go anyway when his friend Marcus asks. Marcus is convinced he's finally in with a shot with a model he's been sniffing after for months, Gale believes that she's using only using Marcus to make her ex jealous. Marcus doesn't want to hear that, of course, so Gale feels compelled to go with him so he'll be able to offer moral support when Marcus inevitable strikes out. As he expected, the party blows. Everybody here thinks they're really cool, but actually they're laughably dumb. The music is some godawful techno crap being played far too loudly, the food is pretentiously vegan and the only alcohol is cider. Fucking cider.

He hates the city. He hates the people who live in it. And he hates cider.

When he spots Marcus' model standing alone, he immediately persuades his buddy that _right now_ is the perfect time to make his move. The sooner Marcus gets rejected, the sooner he'll want to leave.

"I don't know, man," Marcus whines. "We've only just got here."

"Exactly, and so did she, you're both still sober. You don't want to chat her up when your slurring your words and can't stand up straight, do you?" Gale goads. He hands Marcus a platter of nibbles. "Take these over to her."

Marcus sighs but takes the platter from him. "By the way, there's a blonde over there who keeps checking you out."

Gale waits until Marcus has gone before discreetly turning around to locate the blonde. He spots her straight away, and wonders why he hadn't noticed her earlier. Even in a room full of models, she stands out. He catches her eye and she nods at him. He knows her. It takes a minute to place her and then it hits him. It's Madge Undersee. He laughs to himself. He knew she was living in the city, his mother had told him. She'd also told him to be sure to be polite to her when they ran into each other. When, not if. He'd laughed at his mother. In a city of ten million, two people moving in wildly different circles were very unlikely to run into each other, but here they are, at the same party after all. She's a girl from back home. But she's from a completely different side of town. She's the mayor's daughter. He's the son of a cleaner. They had gone to the same school, even had a few mutual friends, but they weren't friends. At most, they were acquaintances. He knows that he's going to have to talk to her because somehow his mother will know if he doesn't, so she he makes his way in her direction. He'll talk to her for a few minutes, make sure he has enough to report back to his mother and then go hang out by the food table until Marcus strikes out and they can go home.

At first, their conversation is stilted, awkward and polite. They ask after each others families and what they're working at. Then they talk about Katniss, their only real mutual friend, then a few other people they both know. And yet when enough time is passed that Hazelle Hawthorne would be satisfied that Gale hadn't been rude, he's still talking to Madge. He makes some innocuous comment about how different the city is from home and she agrees so vehemently that he laughs and they get into a discussion about how much they both hate living in it. Somehow that had leads into a discussion about the things they actually like about the city. Madge is appalled to hear he hasn't visited any of the museums or art galleries and is so enthusiastic about their virtues, he finds himself swearing he'll go. He tells her about his favorite restaurants, small little gems that she's never heard of.

When the party gets too loud, they climb out onto the balcony to continue their conversation. Gale is surprised at how interesting and funny Madge is, and even though he's trying not to, he can't stop noticing how pretty she is. By now, they're debating the fashion industry. Madge is accusing him of thin-shaming which he didn't know was a thing.

"That's not what I'm saying, you're putting words in my mouth, Undersee," he growls when she scolds him, yet again. "There's nothing wrong with being thin, if that's your body's natural shape. But some of those girls in there are clearly starving themselves to meet industry expectations, and I can't understand how that's attractive to anybody."

"I was told it was because the clothes look better on thin girls."

Gale shakes his head. "Nope, I don't believe that. No way does a pair of jeans look better on those girls than it does on you." He can't help but let his eyes trail over her curvy form. She really wears her jeans well.

Madge blushes and laughs. "I don't think it's about selling jeans. It's about haute couture."

Before Gale can respond, Marcus sticks his head out through the open window. "Hey, Hawthorne, I'm going to go."

"Already?"

Marcus shoots him a look. "It's almost two in the morning."

"What?" Gale checks his watch and sure enough it's one-fifty in the morning. How is that possible? They only just got here.

"Um, I'll be there in a minute." Marcus smirks at him and disappears back inside. Gale waits until he's out of ear shot before laughing. "Told you. She kept him around long enough to make her ex jealous and now she's sucking him off in the bathroom and Marcus is going home alone."

"Poor guy." Madge checks her phone. "Looks like my friend got lucky, he left an hour ago with that photographer's assistant. He didn't even say goodbye."

Gale frowns. "How are you getting home?"

She waves a hand in the general direction of west. "I'm only a couple of blocks that way, I'll walk."

"By yourself? We'll walk you, we're going that way."

It isn't exactly true, but he isn't going to let Madge walk home alone.

"You don't have to," Madge protests.

"You'd be doing me a favor, I won't have to listen to Marcus whine."

Madge laughs. "Alright. I'll just get my coat."

Things are a little bit awkward on the walk to Madge's apartment building. Marcus is morose and doesn't really respond well to Madge's polite attempts at conversation.

Madge points out the subway entrance to them. Luckily, it's the one they need to catch so they don't need to double back. Despite that, Gale is disappointed. It's only taken them a couple of minutes to get here and he doesn't want to say good night to her yet. "I'm just a couple of doors down, I can take it from here," she insists.

Gale shakes his head. "No, we'll walk you."

Madge is going to argue, but Marcus gets in first. "I'm just going to head down there. You can walk Madge the rest of the way."

"I'll just be a minute," Gale tells him. He appreciates that Marcus is giving them some privacy to say goodnight. "Sure," Marcus nods, not really believing him. He gives Gale a grudging thumbs up when Madge isn't looking. Gale rolls his eyes. Nothing's going to happen with Madge. Not because he doesn't want it to, but because he knows what kind of girl Madge is and she's not going to invite him in for a nightcap.

Once Marcus is out of sight, the atmosphere between them shifts. It's no longer awkward, but there's a tension between them that wasn't there before. It feels like the end of a date when you both know something's going to happen. Except Gale is pretty sure that nothing is going to happen. Not tonight anyway, but there's definitely the potential for something to happen in the future.

"This was a lot of fun; it was great catching up with you," Madge says as she comes to a stop in front of a very nice looking apartment building. Through the glass door, Gale can see a doorman watching them, ready to spring up and open the door when Madge is ready.

"Yeah, I didn't want to go tonight, but I'm glad I did," he admits. Madge smiles up at him and for the first time, Gale is glad that they only had fucking cider at the party, because all he had was two glasses. If he'd been drinking beer, he'd have had more and he might have been a little drunk by now and it would have made him do something stupid, like make a pass at her.

"Thanks for walking me home," she says. She glances at the building behind her, but makes no move to go inside.

"So, um." Gale clears his throat. It's been a long time since he was nervous around a girl before. Normally, he has pretty reliable moves but he knows they won't work on Madge. So instead he decides to take the straightforward approach. "Do you want to have dinner with me sometime?"

"I do," Madge nods quickly, blushing at her own eagerness. He grins and takes out his phone for her to enter her details When she hands it back, she leans up on her toes and kisses his cheek. She steps back before he has a chance to pull her to him and kiss her the way he wants to kiss her. "Good night, Gale; be sure to call."

"I will," he promises. He watches her go inside and waves at her through the glass before heading back towards the subway. On a whim, he dials her number. "See," he says when she answers it.

She laughs. " _Goodnight, Gale._ "

Marcus looks surprised when Gale steps onto the platform beside him. "I really didn't think I'd see again. Did you strike out too? Not happening with Blondie?"

Gale just grins to himself and shakes his head. He knows that this is the beginning of something special with Madge.


	2. Two

**3.25am**

Madge wakes when Gale carefully pulls his arm from under her. She can tell he's trying not to wake her, so she keeps her eyes closed and her breathing steady and even. She can hear him carefully move through the room. Her heavy drapes don't let in very much light, so he's having a hard time navigating the unfamiliar room.

At first she thinks he might be trying to find the bathroom, but he pulls open her walk-in closet door and swears quietly. When he changes direction for the other door, he walks into her dresser and swears under his breath again. In different circumstances, Madge would find it funny but now she lies still and pretends to sleep. He finds the right door on the next attempt.

Once he has carefully pulled the door closed behind him, Madge flops onto her back. She blinks away furious tears. She is not going to cry over Gale Hawthorne.

Stupid jerk.

No. He's just a jerk. _She's_ the stupid one.

She knew what he's like, she knew his reputation and yet she'd still fallen into bed with him. She'd promised herself that she wasn't going to do that. It's not her style. Yet, she'd slept with Gale just over a week after meeting him at that party.

It wasn't even their third date.

They'd had dinner together midweek, and went to see a band play tonight. She'd had absolutely no intention of sleeping with Gale when she'd left her apartment earlier that night. She hadn't even worn her good underwear, for heaven's sake. But he'd pulled her out onto the dance floor and held her close as they swayed together, and he'd smelled so good and his grey shirt made his eyes even dreamier than usual, and he'd set fire to her skin every time he touched her. In the cab ride on the way home, he'd kissed her and it had quickly turned steamy. His hands had slipped under her dress, she'd unbuttoned some of his shirt so she could touch his chest. When they cab had pulled up in front of her building, he'd told the driver to keep the meter running as he walked her to the door. It was Madge who'd paid the driver and told him he could go.

She'd practically mauled him in the elevator. They had started tearing their clothes off as soon as they were in her apartment. There had been no pretense about coffee, they'd made a beeline for her bedroom.

She'd behaved like a wanton hussy. He'd got what he wanted and now he's creeping out in the middle of the night. No doubt he'll tell everyone back home about how he'd scored the Mayor's frigid daughter and how she'd turned out to be pretty easy actually.

Part of her wants to go out and confront him, yell at him for being such an asshole. But a bigger part of her hopes she never has to see him again. It really pisses her off that he's treated her like this. Oh, how he must be laughing at how stupid and gullible she is. She has every mind to call his mother and tell her what a bastard she has raised. She's never met the woman, but back home Hazelle Hawthorne has a reputation for being a woman you don't want to mess with. Maybe she won't call, maybe an anonymous note instead.

Madge is mentally wording the anonymous note when her bedroom door opens. It's so silent she almost doesn't hear it. She immediately pretends to be asleep again. Her heart is pounding so loudly in her ears. Why has he come back?

She opens her eye the barest slit. Gale is maneuvering around her bed with the aid of light from his cellphone. He's carrying it at waist height and it's illuminating a certain part of his anatomy. He's still completely naked. Madge frowns in confusion. The bed dips down as he sits on it, and she hears the soft _thunk_ of something being set on the bedside table. Then Gale is sliding back into the bed beside her, pulling her back into his arms. She's so surprised and confused that she forgets she's supposed to be pretending to sleep.

"Madge, are you awake?" Gale whispers.

"Yes," she whispers back.

His hand trails up and down her bare back. "Sorry."

"Where did you go?"

"I went to get a glass of water. I think I almost detoured to Narnia."

Madge giggles. She feels stupid again, for a very different reason now. She can't help pressing a kiss to his chest. "Can I get some of that water?"

"Sure." Gale sits up and hands her the glass.

The water is cool and soothing on her throat and she gulps half the glass down. She hadn't realized how dry it was until now. "Thanks. I needed that," she tells him, passing the glass back to him.

Gale lies down again, pulling her back to him. "You can't tell, but I have a really smug smirk on my face right now."

Madge laughs. She doesn't have to wonder why he's smirking. Turns out, in the hands of someone who knows what he's doing, she's a screamer. Of course, he'd been pretty vocal too. "I'm not the one who needed to get out of bed to get a drink, am I?"

"That's true," he chuckles. "You can smirk too."

"Oh, I am." He laughs a full belly laugh and rolls over so that she's underneath him, his lips find the sensitive spot on her neck and Madge moans. She can't believe they're going to do this _again_. She's going to be so sore tomorrow. And then her stomach makes the most embarrassing sound she's ever heard.

Gale freezes and then laughs. "What the hell was that?"

Madge is glad it's dark because her cheeks are flaming. "My stomach."

"Are you hungry?" "I guess I am," She admits. "We worked up quite the appetite earlier. You can add that to your reasons to be smug."

Gale pushes away from her and climbs out of bed, he flicks on the bedside light. "Come on, let's go get something to eat. I'm hungry too." Madge raises an eyebrow at him. Weren't they just about to do something else? He shrugs. "I work better on a full stomach. Come on." She watches as he saunters out of the room butt naked before hauling herself out of the bed and following after. He pauses in the hallway to pick up his pants from the ground and pull them on.

Madge retrieves his shirt from where it hangs on the door handle to the spare bedroom and slips it on over her shoulders. "There's pancake batter in the fridge," she suggests.

Gale gestures for her to take a seat at the breakfast bar while he makes himself at home in the kitchen. He opens cupboards and drawers and finds everything he needs. Madge tries to pretend that watching him cook isn't a massive turn on, but he's smirking again. She rolls her eyes at him, but he just winks. Two can play at that game. When his back is turned, she undoes a couple of buttons and leans forward on the breakfast bar, resting her breasts on her folded arms.

When Gale turns back to her, his eyes immediately zero in on her chest and he almost drops the bowl he's holding on the floor instead of putting it on the counter. She smirks at him. "You play dirty," he grins. "I like that." He plates up the pancakes and takes a seat beside her. "Tonight was fun."

Madge nods, her mouth too full to speak. She swallows her mouthful quickly. "I really liked the band. You have surprisingly good taste in music. I always imagined you listened to death metal."

Gale laughs. "I had a roommate in college who was in a death metal band. I went to one of his concerts once. I was afraid to sleep for about a week afterwards." He shakes his head at the memory and smiles at her. "The Hob always have good bands, there's one next week that are pretty good, if you'd like to go."

She has to look down so he won't see how thrilled she is that he's asked. "I'd love to. There's a sushi place near there that I love, want to get some dinner there first?"

Gale grimaces. "Sushi? Wouldn't you rather go for pizza?" Madge shakes her head, and Gale sighs. "Fine, I'll try sushi." He stands up and carries their empty plates over to the sink to rinse them off.

Madge stands beside him at the sink, watching him. "I thought you were sneaking out," she finds herself confessing. He glances at her and raises an eyebrow. "I was going to call your mother and tell her what an ass she raised."

"Shit, you _really_ do play dirty," Gale says. He hooks a finger into her shirt and tugs her closer, pushing the shirt off her shoulders so it falls onto the floor. "I really like that in a woman."


	3. Three

**4.13am**

"Shhhhhhhhhh, Gale's sleeping." Madge is trying to whisper, but he can hear her all the way in the bedroom. Her whisper is what wakes him.

He doesn't move, he keeps his eyes closed and his breathing steady. If he doesn't move, if he doesn't open his eyes, if he doesn't act like he's awake, then he's still asleep. They'll quieten down in a moment and then he'll drift back into slumber.

But they don't quieten, they just get louder as they stumble into the apartment. They've kept their shoes on too. That's how Gale knows Madge is drunk. She's fastidious about making everybody who enters their apartment remove their shoes; she would certainly not allow them to walk all over her wooden floors in their stilettos if she was sober. Or maybe they stole a horse; it's entirely possible that the loud clip-clopping he can hear is a horse, because how could five women make that much noise?

He wills himself to shut out the noise, to go back to sleep. It's not working.

Somebody bursts into the guest bathroom next door and begins vomiting. There's laughter down the hall, and some banging. What the hell are they doing?

He'd love to know what time it is, but he refuses to open his eyes. He's asleep.

There's more banging and some shouting and laughing. Then the loud clipping of shoes approaching the bedroom door. Tomorrow he's going to buy carpet for this entire apartment.

The door opens gently. "Gale."

He ignores her whisper. He's asleep.

Madge comes closer. "Gaaale. Gale. Gale, are you awake?" She pokes him in the shoulder.

Resistance is futile.

He rolls onto his back, opens one eye and makes a grunting sound.

"The couch is broken."

"The couch is broken?" he repeats.

In the light pouring in from the hallway, he can see her nodding. "It won't go down."

Gale throws back the duvet and pushes himself into a sitting position on the bed. He switches on the bedside lamp, catching sight of the alarm clock. It's after four. Tomorrow he's going to make her feel so guilty about this. He rubs his face and stands up, blinking as the light hurts his eyes.

Madge smiles and throws her arms around him. "I had a such a great night. It was so fun." Her breath stinks so badly from alcohol that he has to turn his face and take a step back. It makes Madge stumble a little and she steps on his bare foot.

He grimaces as he steadies her. "Wash your teeth, and take off your shoes. I'll go fix the couch."

"Thank you." She steps back and grins again, before kicking off one shoe, sending it flying across the room and hitting the far wall with a thud. The other one sails over the bed and lands with a clatter on the floor. The downstairs neighbors are going to be so pissed.

"Wash your teeth," he reminds her, turning her in the direction of their bathroom. Gale leaves her to it, and pads down the hallway. He doesn't stop to talk to Delly who is in a heap on the bathroom floor, clinging to the toilet and retching.

In the living room, Johanna is humping the arm of the couch while Katniss sits on the floor laughing hysterically at her. Gale stares at his best friend in surprise, he's never seen her like that before.

"Hey, Catnip, you OK there?"

"Gale!" Katniss yells with delight, before falling onto her back and laughing some more.

Johanna straightens up and looks at him with a gleam in her eye. It makes Gale wish he'd put on a t-shirt before venturing out of the bedroom. "Hello, Sailor." She sashays around the couch to where he's standing and reaches out to pinch his nipple. He dodges her easily. "Now I see why Madge told those guys to get lost."

He frowns. "What guys?"

"The guys from the Victors. They invited us into the VIP part of the club and bought all our drinks all night. They wanted us to go back to their place to party but Madge made us come home instead."

Gale isn't a baseball fan, but he's from Panem so he hates the Capitol teams on principal. But he really hates the Victors who are a bunch of arrogant assholes. He feels a little smug that Madge turned them down. OK, he feels a lot smug.

With a grin, he pulls the lever on the couch that converts into to a bed. It goes down easily.

"Ta-Da!" Jo says with a flourish like a magician's assistant.

Katniss laughs like it's the funniest thing she's ever seen.

"What's with her?" Gale asks, jerking his thumb in the direction of his best friend.

"She had an entire bottle of champagne to herself," Jo says. She leans closer and stage whispers "The waiter had a crush on her."

Katniss plucks a piece of paper from her cleavage. "He gave me his number."

Gale snorts. Only Katniss would party with a bunch of millionaire sports-stars and get a crush on the waiter.

"Peeeeetaaaaaaaaaaaaa," Katniss giggles. "Isn't that the best name? Peeetaaa. Peeeeeeeeeeeeeetaaaaaaaaaaaaaa." She dissolves into another round of laughter.

Gale shakes his head and hauls her to her feet. "Take off your shoes." Katniss toes her shoes off obligingly. "Are you sleeping here or in the bedroom?"

"Bedroom. Jo kicks."

He helps her to her feet and half-carries her to the guest bedroom and turns on the light. They girls had used it to get ready earlier so it looks like a bomb hit it. Katniss throws herself on the bed. She holds the scrap of paper above her head and smiles at it. "Peeetaaaaa." She laughs again.

Gale rolls his eyes and leaves the room. He meets Madge coming out of their bedroom.

She smiles at him. Her eyes are glassy, and her usually perfect hair is messed and tangled. Her carefully applied smoky-eye make up now just looks like panda eyes. "My teeth are clean, can I get a kiss now?"

Feeling a little of his annoyance dissolve, Gale slips his arms around her waist. Her tight blue dress has cutaways at the sides and he rubs his thumb along her bare skin. He loves this dress on her. No wonder those guys were buying her drink all night. He leans down and kisses her gently. He can taste the toothpaste off her, but it barely masks the alcohol.

Madge grabs his butt and squeezes it, laughing at the expression on his face. "Take me to bed, lover."

Gale laughs. Drunk Madge equals frisky Madge. However the romantic moment is spoiled by the sound of Delly groaning in the bathroom. "You should check on her, I'll get you some water," he suggests.

In the kitchen he finds Johanna sitting on the counter eating the leftovers from their dinner that evening. Gale grabs a glass from the cupboard and pauses. "Do you want a glass of water?"

"Yeah."

He grabs another glass and then decides to get water for all of them; it'll really score him some brownie points tomorrow. He pulls out another three glasses and then it hits him, there's only four girls. There should be five.

"Hey Jo, where's Annie?"

Jo stops eating and frowns. "I dunno. She was with us."

"Could she have gone home?" Gale wonders. Her apartment isn't far from here, but her fiance is out of town so she'd elected to stay over tonight but she could have changed her mind.

"I don't think so." Jo slips off the counter and scrunches up her face. "She was definitely with us in the taxi. She was sitting on my lap."

"Does she have her phone with her? Call her." There's a sickening feeling in Gale's stomach and he's reevaluating things. Katniss isn't acting at all like herself, normally Delly can hold her drink better than anyone, Madge never gets this drunk, even Jo's off, and Annie's missing; could those asshole Victors have slipped something in their drinks.

Jo digs through her purse in search of her phone, while Gale goes to see if the others might know where Annie is. Madge is in the bathroom, trying to clean a weepy Delly. Neither of them know where Annie is, they thought she was with them.

Gale throws open the guest room door just in time to find Katniss trying to pull a t-shirt on. She squawks at him and covers her barely A-cups. "Gale!"

"Where's Annie?"

Katniss sticks her head through the armhole of her shirt. "She's… I don't know. Is she not here?"

"No." Gale runs his hands through his hair trying to decide what to do. Call the cops? Maybe the doorman might have seen her? Did she stay in the taxi?

Jo is standing in the doorway of the living room with her phone pressed to her ear. "It's ringing."

Gale decides to go downstairs and talk to the doorman, he's just reaching for his sneakers by the door when he hears a phone ringing in the hallway outside. He yanks open the door and sees Annie slumped on the ground by their neighbor's door, clutching her phone. The relief is immense.

"She's here," he tells Jo.

Annie opens one eye and bats him away when Gale nudges her before falling back to sleep again. He lifts her up, carries her into the apartment and leaves her down on the sofa-bed. He tries to wake her again. "Annie."

She mumbles something unintelligible and rolls onto her side.

"She'll be fine," Jo says. She pulls her dress over her head and drops onto the bed beside her. Gale averts his gaze from her breasts and throws her a blanket.

He goes in search of Madge. She's managed to get Delly into the guest room and is struggling with the zip on Delly's dress. Katniss is fast asleep, sprawled out on the bed and snoring.

"Can you help me here? This zip is broken," Madge pleads.

Ordinarily he'd suggest that Delly sleep in her dress like Annie is doing, but Delly's dress is leather and covered in buckles and studs. It looks really uncomfortable. So he takes over from Madge. All he has to do is undo the little eye-hook and pull down the zipper.

"Grab her nightshirt from that bag, will you?" Madge instructs as she helps Delly out of the dress.

Gale searches through Delly's overnight bag for her shirt. When he turns back to Madge, he's just in time to see her unhooking Delly's bra. He looks away quickly. "Jesus." Why is he seeing so many boobs tonight? "I'm going to get a bucket for her, just in case." He hurries out of the room before he sees anything else.

He grabs whatever he can find; buckets, basins, a trashcan. He leaves one at each side of the couch where both Jo and Annie are both fast asleep. He frowns; They both look alright, but he's still worried that their drinks might have been spiked.

He takes the remaining buckets into the guest room and helps Madge get Delly into the bed. He has to pull Katniss to one side so that Delly can lie down. Gale places the buckets by their bedside and they leave the room.

In the hallway, Gale steers Madge so that she's standing under the light and cups her face. Her eyes are still glassy and a little red. "How are you feeling? Any nausea?"

"I'm fantastic," Madge laughs. She winds her arms around his neck and puckers his lips for a kiss. Gale kisses her and runs his thumb across her cheek. She smiles at him. "Can we go to bed now?"

Gale laughs, feeling a little more reassured now. Madge seems to be fine at least. "Sure. You get ready, I'm going to get some water." He smacks her ass as she turns eliciting a squeal.

He goes back to the kitchen and fills the five glasses. He puts two in the living room by the couch and carries the other three into the guest room. When he places the glass beside Katniss, he spots the piece of paper with the waiter's phone number. It's actually a business card. And Peeeetaaaaaa isn't a waiter, he's Peeta Mellark, manager of The Flickerman Club.

He picks it up and goes back to the living room. Katniss' purse is on the ground near her shoes. he finds her phone in it. He takes the phone into the kitchen. It's late to be calling, but if he's the manager of a night club, chances are this guy is still awake, and if Katniss gave him her number he'll probably answer.

Sure enough, he answers on the first ring.

" _Katniss, hey. Did you get home OK?"_

"This isn't Katniss, this is a friend of hers. She was at your club earlier with my girlfriend and some friends. Do you remember them?" Gale hopes he sounds intimidating.

" _Yes, I remember them. Is everything alright? Did Katniss and the others make it home safely?"_ The guy sounds genuinely concerned.

"They're home," Gale assures him. Peeta breathes a sigh of relief and Gale decides he's probably a good guy so he drops the harsh tone and speaks normally. "Listen, they're all very inebriated, unusually so. I'm a little concerned that their drinks were spiked. I heard they were partying with a bunch of Victors and I don't like those guys."

" _No, I don't like them either,_ " Peeta agrees. " _Look, I kept an eye on the girls all night. They had a lot to drink. They were doing shots like it was the end of the world and the Victors bought them a couple bottles of champagne. The expensive kind. The drinks in the VIP section are probably stronger than they're used to, they had a lot of it, and they were mixing their alcohol, so they got pretty drunk. The Victors wanted them to go someplace else to party, they were being a little aggressive about it because the girls didn't want to go, so I put them into a taxi and sent them home. I don't think that any drinks were spiked, if they were I'll be happy to pass all our security footage along to the police."_

Gale feel himself relax. He's furious with the Victors; he has no doubt they plied the girls with alcohol deliberately and were hoping to take advantage of them, but he's grateful that they're home and safe. At worst, they'll all have terrible hangovers tomorrow. That can be dealt with. "Thank you. Everybody's fine, just really drunk and I was concerned."

" _That's quite alright. I'm glad to know they're OK_ ," Peeta says. " _Maybe, you could have Katniss call me tomorrow, just to make sure_."

"I'll do that," Gale chuckles. "Good night and thank you."

He hangs up, and then makes sure Peeta's details are saved on Katniss' phone before returning it to her purse. He puts the card back on the nightstand and turns out the lights.

In his own bedroom, he finds Madge sprawled out on their bed, asleep, and still wearing her tight, blue dress. When he sits on the bed, she wakes and smiles blearily at him.

"I can't get my dress off. It's broken."

Gale laughs. "Stand up." She drags herself to her feet and lifts her hair so he can unzip her dress. He tugs the zip down gently and pushes the dress off her. Then he unhooks her strapless bra and tosses it away.

She turns then and leans into him, her bare breasts pressing against his chest, and winds her arms around his neck. "Thanks for being such a good boyfriend."

"You're not so bad at being a girlfriend yourself," he tells her. His hands slide up to cup her breasts. Madge has the best breasts; something he can say with actual authority tonight. She giggles and pushes him onto the mattress, placing sloppy kisses along his neck.

Gale groans, he's starting to become very aroused right now - having a naked and frisky girl draped across your body will do that to a guy – but he's never been into making out with drunk girls and he certainly isn't going to have sex with Madge right now.

He taps her shoulder and kisses her forehead when she looks up at him. She smiles at him again. "I'm pretty tired, let's just get some sleep," he says softly. Madge pouts adorably but she curls against him, laying her head on his chest. His penis is very unhappy with his decision, but plenty of time for that tomorrow when Madge is sober, and recovered from her hangover.

He switches off the light and wraps his arms around his beautiful girlfriend currently snoring as loud as a freight train on his chest.


	4. Four

**2.57am**

 **BWRANG. BWRANG. BWRANG. BWRANG. BWRANG. BWRANG. BRWANG. BWRANG.**

Gale jumps from his bed with an explosive curse. "I'm going to kill those fucking potheads in 4b."

Madge burrows further under the duvet and pulls the pillow over her head to muffle the obnoxious sounds of the alarm. It didn't help at all, the sound is too loud and too piercing.

Why is it taking Gale so long to turn it off?

Then she felt his hand on her shoulder, pulling away the pillow. "Madge, baby, get up. We have to go."

"What?" She stares at him bleary eyed, as he pulls on a sweater and a pair of sneakers.

"Madge, come on," he urges. "There's really a fire. You need to get up.

She tosses back the duvet and grabs the nearest clothes she can find, stuck her foot into a pair of sneakers and hurries out after Gale. He is standing on the landing with his two roommates, Thom and Bristel, looking down over the railing of the central staircase. She joins them. Grey smoke is curling over the edge of the third floor. The alarm is even louder out here, but there is only a handful of people on the staircase. Most of the residents seems to have taken Madge's approach to dealing with the alarm.

Gale grabs her hand and tugs her down the stairs with him, issuing instructions on the way. He wants the three guys to split up and knock on all the doors to ensure everybody is out. "Madge, you go outside and make sure that everybody moves away from the door so there's room for others to exit."

Madge starts to protest, there is no way she is leaving him in a burning building; but they reaches the fourth floor just as an elderly woman stumbles out of her apartment struggling to carry her three small and frightened grandchildren. Gale plucks one of them from her arms and deposits her into Madge's. Bristel grabs another.

"Anybody else in your apartment," Gale asks the lady.

She shakes her head. "My daughter's on the night shift."

"Good, go with Madge and Bris," he instructs them before catching Madge's arm. "I'll be out shortly, OK?"

All she can do is nod as he stops on the third floor landing. She follows Bristel down the stairs. Madge is annoyed to find about a dozen people congregating in the lobby, despite the smoke and the noise of the alarm.

Finding her voice she spoke clearly and loudly. "Alright everybody, please make your way outside. Thank you."

To her surprise, the people there listen to her, though some grumble as they make their way out into the cold night air. Bristel returns the child he is carrying to her grandmother and hurries back inside to alert the people on the first and second floors. Madge orders everybody to stand on the opposite side of the street.

She stations herself in the doorway, holding the door open and directing anybody else who makes their way downstairs where to go. It is a trickle at first, but quickly grows in size. The smoke is thickening considerably and people are starting to be more afraid than annoyed at their interrupted sleep.

Madge is surprised at how calm her voice sounds as she speaks to the residents. Her hands are shaking and her heart racing. She keeps her eyes glued to the stairs hoping to see Gale. She only leaves her post when a firefighter orders her outside, she hadn't even noticed them arriving. Bristel pulls her across the street to join his neighbors and keeps his arm around her shoulders in comfort. Her heart is in her throat as she watches and waits. Thick smoke is billowing from two windows on the third floor, another wisp curling from an apartment on the fourth.

Finally Gale and Thom appear, carrying an elderly lady between them.

With a cry of relief, Madge dashes across the street and throws her arms around her boyfriend. She doesn't care if she is being melodramatic. He squeezes her back tightly. She can feel his chest heaving against hers as he sucks in fresh air.

"Is that everybody out?" a firefighter asks.

"I think so," Gale tells him. "We banged on every door. There is no answer in 3F but he works-." He is cut off by a cough that doubles him over.

"3F works a lot of nights," Madge completes for him, rubbing his back as he hacks up the contents of his lungs.

Madge helps him across the street, to sit on a stoop. He's just sat down when there is a loud bang above them, and the crowd shrieks and covers their heads as glass smithereens rain down on the street.

When they look up, they can see the smoke is heavier than ever and now flames are licking the windows too. Most of the smoke is issuing from one side of the building, but there is another wisp curling on the opposite side and one floor up.

"Those fucking potheads in 4b," Thom says, when Madge points it out. "They were so wasted they thought the alarms was the cops and they set fire to their entire stash. Then they wouldn't leave when we knocked. I thought Gale was going to murder them."

"Still might," Gale says darkly, throwing a glare at where the four idiots are standing and laughing together.

All the excitement has brought brought people from other buildings on the street, including the guy from the Irish bar that Gale and his friends like to frequent. He has a slab of bottled water, and is distributing them to the crowd. Madge nabs two for the guys who drink from them thirstily.

The Irish bar guy offers the use of his function room for people to shelter from the night air. A lot of residents take him up on his offer, but the guys and Madge stay on the street to watch as the firefighters get the blaze under control.

As the adrenaline wears off, Madge wishes she had pulled on something warmer than the light cardigan she is wearing. Gale notices her shivering and wraps his arms around her.

"You OK?" he asks, placing a kiss to her temple.

She nods. "Yeah. Just a little cold."

"You should go inside.".

Madge shakes her head. She knows that Gale wouldn't want to leave the scene, not until he is sure that all danger had passed; and she doesn't want to be separated from him. She clings tighter to him. "I'm fine."

He is silent for a few minutes, rubbing her back and her arms to warm her up. Madge presses her nose to his chest and blinks back tears.

Gale pulls away suddenly and pats his pockets before pulling out a crumbled up twenty. "You guys want a hot drink?"

Thom and Bristel both nod. Gale pulls Madge under his arm and they walk down the block to the all night cafe on the corner.

Just outside the cafe, Gale stops and turns Madge to face him. He cups her face and kisses her gently. Hot tears spill from her eyes and he gently brushes them away with his thumbs. "Hey, don't cry. It's OK. Nobody was hurt."

She gives him a watery smile. "I'm sorry. I was just so frightened. Next time, can you try to be a coward instead of a hero?"

Gale laughs. "Not really my style."

"I know that, it's one of the reasons I love you so much," she says. She leans up to kiss him.

"I love you too," he tells her.

They buy three teas and a hot chocolate and make their way back to the guys. The crowd on the street had gathered around a firefighter and are dispersing as Madge and Gale reach them.

"What is that about?" Gale asks, handing the teas over to Thom and Bristel.

"The fire's under control, but they reckon there's a lot of smoke damage and it's going to be hours before we're allowed back inside," Thom sums up.

Gale groans. "Super."

Madge wants to kick herself. "Shit. I left my keys inside. We could have gone back to my place."

"Oh!" Bristel exclaims. He reaches into his pockets and pulls out a set of keys, the grubby pink 'G' that Posy had given Gale for his birthday many years ago dangling from them.

"You beauty." Gale takes them from his friend and selects the key with the purple rubber ring on it. Madge had got it cut for him two months earlier.

The four of them go back to the cafe and call a cab to take them to Madge's place. Madge dozes on the ride, her head against Gale's shoulder. A doorman lets them into her building.

Thom collapses on the couch, Bristel takes the guest room, and Madge and Gale climb wearily into her bed.

Madge rests her head on Gale's chest. She can smell smoke on his skin and it made her grip him tighter. She presses a kiss over his heart.

"You're never going to stay over again, are you?" Gale asks, his voice thick with tiredness.

Madge grins. She hates Gale's apartment, always prefers to stay here in her place. His place is small and dark, the walls are thin and she never feels like they have any privacy. And no matter how much she likes Thom and Bristel, she hates using their shared bathroom.

"You should just move in here," she suggests, her heart racing a little as she speaks. She lifts her head so she can see him in the gloom. "If you want."

He smiles back at her. "I do. I've been thinking about it for a while actually."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

He shrugs. "I dunno. I guess I thought it would seem presumptuous to invite myself to live here."

"You're an idiot." She kisses him sweetly. "My brave, idiotic, hero."


	5. Five

**2.15am.**

Madge closes her book with a huff. Four-hundred-and thirty-three pages, and it ends like _that_?

She tosses the book away and tries to figure out what she thinks of it. Annoyance mainly, definitely not worth feeling like a zombie at work tomorrow. She should have gone to bed when Gale did.

She drags herself off the couch, tidies away the throw she had over her, and rinses her hot chocolate mug before padding down the hall to the bedroom.

Gale is fast asleep when she enters quietly. Madge turns on her bedside lamp and gets ready for bed. Her boyfriend doesn't stir as she strips out of her clothes and removes her make up.

After brushing her teeth and setting out her clothes for tomorrow, she slips between the sheets and turns off the light.

Her side of the bed is cold and she can feel Gale's heat radiating from his body. She edges closer, sliding her arm around his waist and laying her head on his chest. She waits for his arms to come around her.

Instead, he shoves her away, hard. Surprised, Madge lifts her head and peers at him in the dim light seeping in through the curtains. He's still asleep, but he's frowning. She moves close again and settles into her favorite position.

Again, he pushes her away. "Geroff," he mumbles.

Madge places her hand on his chest and shakes him slightly. "Gale."

"No!" Gale grabs her wrist and flings it away from him and pushes her again. It's forceful and sends her sprawling.

"Gale!" She exclaims loudly, shocked at his reaction.

He wakes with a start and blinks at her in the gloom. "Wha…? What's going on? Madge?"

"You pushed me," she says, rubbing her arm.

Gale rubs his eyes. "I was dreaming." He lies down again, stretching out his arm for her.

"Are you done dreaming? I don't want to get pushed out of the bed next time."

"Come here," he says, tugging her to his side and wrapping his arms around her. She goes to him a little warily. "Did I hurt you? I'm sorry." He rubs her arm gently.

"What was your dream about?"

"These girls were trying to make me take off my clothes and I kept telling them I have a girlfriend but they wouldn't listen."

"Oh my god," she laughs and stretches up to kiss him before nestling into his side and drifting to sleep.


End file.
